I consider myself a powerful woman every time I give sexual and reproductive health education to women in a parking lot, or in a Laundromat, and see the expression on their faces – like they’ve never spoken about their own bodies before. When I, or one of the promotoras of the Lifting Latina Voices initiative, help women to discover their potential for leadership, women realize that over the years that others have had more say in their life decisions than they have had themselves – how many children to have, when and where to have them – regardless of their individual future. They then discover their power, or realize they’ve been in abusive relationships where their own pleasure has been put on hold and their partner has never cared about what they feel and want. When we’re able to work with women as they come to these conclusions for themselves, I feel powerful. I feel powerful when I see women demand Health to be able to protect themselves, Dignity to be respected for who they are and their decisions, and Justice to condemn anything they consider a personal attack.

With my Director Maria Azuri, I’ve been able to better understand women and our needs. I understand my job more, and why despite the difficulties we face we must continue to strengthen education and leadership among women. Mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, LGBT or straight, it doesn’t matter, we just have to discover our potential and put it in service to others.